i believe it was Cozumel last august. on Destiny. our ship left almost an hour late because we had to wait for the tender ship that took the tour to the main land on the excursion. we couldnt figure out why we still hadnt left yet, til we saw the tender arrive and almost 100+ people debark and race down the pier back home to Destiny.. this was a ship sponsored tour i assume.

i do recall tho watchin a special on discovery took place on one of the new larger ships ( i forget which ) it came time to leave port and they knew they were missing 3 people and did what they could to find them. so i would think if they ship knows its missing 40 people on a private excursion they MIGHT try to track em down and see. i mean these ships travel a routine path with the smae excursion companies waiting outside every time. im sure they come to learn who came back and who didnt

The problem would be tracking them down. The ship usually has contact with all the tour groups ship's excursions. They usually have no idea what groups are on private tours, who they are with, where they are, etc.